1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video reproduction apparatus such as a TV/VCR combination, and more particularly to a video reproduction apparatus having a function of blocking a specific image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case where a video is reproduced from a recording medium such as a video tape by using a video reproduction apparatus, when the video includes a violent or sexual scene, minors are undesirably affected by the video. Therefore, a technique for blocking a display of such a scene on a screen has been conventionally employed.
For example, JP-A-63-125483U discloses a CATV system in which program contents are ranked according to a viewing allowance level, and a viewing of a program (such as an adult movie) of a rank which is higher than a registered rank is inhibited. In the system disclosed in the publication, however, the object which is to be blocked from being viewed is the whole of a program, and it is therefore impossible to block only a violent or sexual scene in each program.
By contrast, a method is employed in which, as shown in FIG. 5, a signal that is called a V-chip signal and used for restricting a display of a specific image is added into a vertical blanking interval of a video signal, and a video reproduction apparatus decodes the V-chip signal, thereby inhibiting a display of an image of the corresponding portion. The blocking of an image by using such a V-chip signal has been legislated in the U.S.A., and practically used. According to this method, when the code of a V-chip signal is selectively set by the user, a scene which is required not to be displayed can be blocked.
However, the blocking system which uses such a V-chip signal signal has a problem in that, when a video is reproduced in a special play mode, the blocking cannot be performed. Such a special play mode includes a slow play mode, a pause mode, and a search mode. When reproduction is performed in a slow play mode, for example, the waveform of a reproduced video signal is different from that of a video signal which is reproduced in a normal mode, and is disturbed. Therefore, the V-chip signal which is added to the video signal cannot be read as a normal signal, with the result that the blocking cannot function.
This problem will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4D. In the FIG., FIG. 4A shows a V-chip signal. In a normal play mode shown in FIG. 4B, the V-chip signal is correctly read, and the screen blocking is normally performed as shown in FIG. 4D. When the normal play mode is transferred to a special play mode at a time T1 as shown in FIG. 4C, the V-chip signal is not correctly read. As shown in FIG. 4D, therefore, a state (between T1 to T2) in which the blocking is not performed on the screen occurs until the mode is returned at a time T2 to the normal play mode.
As a result, the blocking can be intentionally disabled by performing reproduction in a special play mode, and hence the original object of a V-chip signal that a display of a violent or sexual scene is inhibited cannot be attained.